JP3423147B2 - Method for manufacturing optical multilayer filter - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an optical multi-layer film filter that multiplexes or demultiplexes light having a specific wavelength in optical communication. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an optical multilayer filter called a substrateless that is removed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method for manufacturing an optical multi-layer film filter called substrateless, it has hitherto been disclosed in JP-A-3-274506.
The one shown in Japanese Patent Publication is known. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a manufacturing process of the optical multilayer filter described in the publication. First, as shown in FIG.
A plurality of grooves 1a are formed on the surface of the. Then, FIG. 4 (b)
As shown in FIG. 1, an optical material having a high refractive index and an optical material having a low refractive index are alternately deposited on the substrate 1, and the surface of the substrate and each groove 1 are
The multilayer film 2 is formed inside a. After that, when the soluble substrate 1 is immersed in a specific solvent to dissolve it, the multilayer film 2 is peeled off along each groove 1a as shown in FIG. 10 is obtained.
Therefore, the filter element chip 10 does not have the substrate 1, and is composed of only the multilayer film 2.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional method of manufacturing an optical multilayer filter, the multilayer film 2 is formed not only on the surface of the substrate 1 but also on the inner wall of the groove 1a when the multilayer film 2 is formed. Since the multi-layered film 2 is formed, the multi-layered film 2 is connected between the grooves 1a, and this phenomenon is particularly remarkable when the film formation is performed in plasma in order to increase the denseness of the multi-layered film 2. As a result, after the multilayer film 2 is formed, the entire substrate 1 is warped, and among the filter element chips 10 that are subdivided, particularly the filter element chips 10 formed at the end portions of the substrate 1 can obtain desired optical characteristics. However, there is a problem that the yield is deteriorated.

Further, in the above-described conventional method for manufacturing an optical multilayer film filter, as shown in FIG. 4C, a large number of filter element chips 10 are separated into pieces when the filter element chips 10 are completed. Since the substrate 1 floats in the solvent, the filter element chip 10 is extremely handled by an operator who collects the filter element chip 10 or a user who uses the filter element chip 10 alone as a multiplexing filter or a demultiplexing filter. There was also the problem that it was troublesome.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a multilayer film is formed with a mask material filled in a groove formed in advance in a dissolvable substrate, the multilayer film is adhered to a carrier, and then the substrate is It was made to melt | dissolve and carry | supported only the multilayer film on the carrier. Thus, by filling the groove with the mask material at the time of forming the multilayer film, it is possible to prevent the warp of the substrate due to the connection of the multilayer film in the groove, and to prevent a plurality of substrates from being melted after the substrate is melted. Since the optical multi-layer film filter of (1) is carried by the carrier for each chip, the handling of the optical multi-layer film filter can be made convenient.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the method for manufacturing an optical multilayer filter of the present invention, a step of forming a plurality of grooves on a dissolvable substrate, a step of filling a mask material in the grooves, and a step of forming a groove on the substrate. The method includes a step of forming a multilayer film, an adhesion step of bonding the multilayer film to a carrier, and a melting step of melting only the substrate.

The carrier may be any material that is insoluble in the solvent that dissolves the substrate, but is preferably a film that can be dissolved in a specific solvent.

Further, between the adhering step and the melting step,
Having a step of cutting the multilayer film along the groove,
The optical multi-layer film filter having a predetermined shape can be carried on the carrier chip by chip.

[0009]

EXAMPLES Examples will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a manufacturing process of an optical multilayer filter according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a groove and a mask material used in the manufacturing process of FIG.

The substrate 1 shown in FIG. 1 (a) is a soluble material, for example, NaCl or KBr which is soluble in water as a solvent.
As shown in FIG. 1B, a plurality of grooves 1a are formed on the surface of the substrate 1. The grooves 1a can be formed by known photolithography, dicing cutter, or the like. As shown in FIG. 2A, the grooves 1a are formed in a matrix in this embodiment.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1C, each groove 1
A wire 3 as a mask material is fitted in a. Figure 2
As shown in (b), the wire 3 is formed by stacking a plurality of wires, and is formed in a matrix corresponding to the shape of the groove 1a.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1D, the substrate 1
The multilayer film 2 is formed by alternately depositing an optical material having a high refractive index and an optical material having a low refractive index on the top. For example, TiO ₂ is used as the high refractive index optical material and SiO ₂ is used as the low refractive index optical material, and these can be formed by sputtering, vapor deposition, ion plating, or the like. In this case, since the wire 3 is fitted in the groove 1a, there is a portion where no film is formed in the groove 1a, and the multilayer film 2 is separated by the wire 3 for each groove 1a.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (e), after removing the wire 3 from the groove 1a, as shown in FIG. 1 (f),
The upper surface of the multilayer film 2 is adhered to the carrier 4. Note that FIG.
(F) to (h) are shown with the substrate 1 upside down. As the carrier 4, a material that does not melt in a solvent (eg, water) that melts the substrate 1 but melts in a specific organic solvent (eg, acetone), such as an epoxy film, is used.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (g), the substrate 1 is cut by the cutter 5 along each groove 1a, and the portion (burr) of the multilayer film 2 protruding to the inner wall of the groove 1a is cut. At this time, as long as the carrier 4 is not cut, there is no problem even if the tip of the cutter 5 slightly goes inside the carrier 4.

Next, when the substrate 1 is immersed in water as a solvent and dissolved, as shown in FIG. 1 (h), a large number of filter chips 10 remain on the carrier 4 in a substrate-less state,
The manufacturing process is completed in this state. Therefore, not only for the operator who collects the filter chip 10 from the solvent of the substrate 1 but also for the user who uses the single filter element chip 10 as a multiplexing filter or a demultiplexing filter thereafter, the plurality of filter chips 10 are in a film shape. Since it is carried on the carrier 4, the handleability can be improved.

FIG. 3 shows a method of mounting the filter chip 10 with such a carrier 4 between a pair of optical fibers 11a and 11b. First, as shown in FIG. 3A, the filter chip 10 with the carrier 4 is cut for each chip together with the carrier 4. Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the filter chip 10 is placed between the end faces of the cores of the optical fibers 11a and 11b supported by the ferrules 12a and 12b with the carrier 4, respectively.
Then, as shown in FIG. 3C, the ferrule 12
While a and 12b are opposed to each other and pressurized, the carrier 4 is immersed and dissolved in, for example, acetone as the organic solvent 13. Then, as shown in FIG. 3D, only the filter chip 10 is attached between the optical fibers 11a and 11b. Here, when the carrier 4 is dissolved, it is effective to apply vibration such as ultrasonic waves.

Although the wire 3 as a mask material is fitted into the groove 1a of the substrate 1 in the above embodiment, a mask material other than the wire 3, for example, magnetic powder is filled in the groove 1a. Then, the multilayer film 2 may be formed in a state in which the magnetic powder is fixed in the groove 1a by utilizing the attractive force of the magnet.

[0018]

The present invention is carried out in the form described above, and has the following effects.

Forming a plurality of grooves on a dissolvable substrate, filling a mask material in the grooves, forming a multilayer film on the substrate, and adhering the multilayer film to a carrier. According to the method for producing an optical multilayer filter having a bonding step and a dissolving step of dissolving only the substrate,
The warp of the substrate due to the connection of the multilayer film in the groove can be prevented, and a plurality of substrate-less optical multilayer filters after the substrates are melted are carried by the carrier for each chip. The handling can be made convenient.

If a film that can be dissolved in a specific solvent is used as the carrier and the film is not dissolved in a solvent that dissolves the substrate, only the carrier is specified when the optical multilayer filter is attached to the optical system. Since it can be dissolved by the solvent, the mounting work can be improved.

Further, between the adhering step and the dissolving step,
By adding a step of cutting the multilayer film along the groove, the optical multilayer film filter having a predetermined shape can be carried by the carrier for each chip.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a manufacturing process of an optical multilayer filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a groove and a mask material used in the manufacturing process of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of mounting the optical multilayer filter of FIG. 1 between optical fibers.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a manufacturing process of a conventional optical multilayer filter.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 substrate 1a groove 2 Multi-layer film 3 wires (mask material) 4 carriers 10 filter tips 11a, 11b optical fiber 12a, 12b ferrule 13 Organic solvent

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-3-274506 (JP, A) JP-A-4-7505 (JP, A) JP-A-63-60401 (JP, A) JP-A-60-262102 (JP , A) JP-A-55-115004 (JP, A) Actually developed S61-2450 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02B 5/28 G02B 1/11 C23C 14/00-14/02

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method of forming a plurality of grooves on a dissolvable substrate, a step of filling a mask material in the grooves, a step of forming a multilayer film on the substrate, and a step of forming the multilayer film on a carrier. A method for manufacturing an optical multilayer filter, comprising: an adhering step of adhering and a dissolving step of dissolving only the substrate. 2. The method of manufacturing an optical multilayer filter according to claim 1, wherein the carrier is a soluble film, and the film is a material that is insoluble in a solvent that dissolves the substrate. 3. The method of manufacturing an optical multilayer filter according to claim 1, further comprising a step of cutting the multilayer film along the groove between the adhering step and the dissolving step. .